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So what’s the point of me writing this, at this length, about Sean Spicer’s performance today? Is what he said the end of the world and a signal that the Trump administration is a catastrophic failure? No. What happened today was a guy who speaks for the most powerful man in the world sucking at his job. This is important for myriad reasons, not the least of which is that American citizens and the American media need to be able to trust that the people who are in charge are good at their jobs. They need to trust the president’s judgment in the people he hires, and they need to trust the people he hires to be capable of doing their jobs effectively.

Sean Spicer’s job is to relay the thoughts and feelings of the president to the American people and media.

Today, Sean Spicer was very bad at his job.

Spicer said today that Russia should rethink its support for Assad because Assad used chemical weapons on his own people, and even Hitler never used chemical weapons during WWII. This was jaw-droppingly stupid. And factually incorrect. And an absolute shit show of a comparison. It was bizarre in that it was so devastatingly wrong on the points of factual merit, in addition to being a very strange point of comparison.

So let’s ignore facts for a second and figure out what Spicer’s point is. Is Assad worse than Hitler in some respect because of this? More objectionable? That’s what it means when you say “even [blank] didn’t do it.” Even this really bad guy didn’t do it, so this is worse. That’s how people use the English language. So, Assad is worse than Hitler?

Best case scenario… absolutely best case scenario you can make is that Assad is at least comparable to Hitler. Because even if you don’t want to say “worse than,” you’ve got to at the very least own that Assad is now comparable to Hitler.

So there’s that. He either meant to say that Assad is worse than Hitler, or he meant to say that Assad is comparable to Hitler, and that for one of these two reasons, Russia should not support Assad. Either way, we’ve pinned down what his point was.

Now we can deal with how Spicer ignored the fact that Hitler used chemical weapons to kill literally millions of people. I know the term “millions of people” can be used as hyperbole, but this is not hyperbole. Hitler used chemical weapons to kill MILLIONS of people. And it’s honestly even worse than that. He used chemical weapons with the stated desire to commit genocide against a religious group he deemed to be subhuman.

What Assad did is worse than Hitler? Assad is comparable to Hitler because Hitler never used chemical weapons and Assad did? Even though Hitler used chemical weapons in an attempted genocide?

What? This is not smart. This is not a smart thing to do.

So he was asked to clarify his remarks, and he did. Well, he tried to.

Here’s an honest to goodness attempt to transcribe what he said, “When you come to sarin gas, [Hitler] was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Ashad (sic) is doing… Clearly, [Hitler] brought them into the Holocaust centers, I understand that. In the way that Assad used them where he went into towns, dropped them down to innocent—into the middle of towns. It was brought. So, the use of it. I appreciate the clarification.”

I’m going to try to parse this and say that Spicer is saying that Assad’s actions are comparable to or worse than Hitler’s because Assad dropped chemical weapons onto his “his own” “innocent” people “in the middle of towns” whereas Hitler brought them to “Holocaust centers.”

The second is the use of the words “own people” and “innocent.” Hitler did it to his own people, and they were innocent in every bit the same way Assad’s victims are innocent. Using that as a point of contrast makes it seem like the Jews of the Holocaust were not Hitler’s people (many of them were German, making them Hitler’s people) and that they were not innocent. Is that what Spicer said? Not directly, but when you’re using points of contrast, and you say that Assad is different from Hitler because Assad is doing it to his own, innocent people, then your point of contrast directly implies that Hitler did NOT do it to his own, innocent people. Which he did. This is how points of contrast work. A person who speaks publicly for the President of the United States should understand this.

And the third: How is dropping chemical weapons into the middle of towns worse than or comparable to setting up a nationwide infrastructure that facilitated slave labor and genocide? Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that it’s not big deal to drop chemical bombs onto civilian populations. That is beyond wrong, and one could argue that it is so wrong that it merits a military intervention by US forces. It’s a world evil that should not be tolerated let alone supported by the Russians.

But comparable to Hitler? The guy who enslaved millions of Jews, forced them to make weapons for his army, and then murdered them or watched as they became living skeletons? The guy who made it a point of pride to exterminate a religious group he considered to be vermin?

Yes, Assad is a very bad man who is doing very bad things. But you just compared him to Hitler and totally forgot to mention the millions of Jews he killed the first time, and the second time, you made it seem like Jews were not innocent or Germans. That’s just beyond terrible. From a Press Secretary? It’s obscenely bad.

Here’s this word innocent again! Were the Jews not innocent? And please explain to everyone how dropping chemical weapons onto people is worse than or comparable to using chemical weapons to kill millions in a prolonged and dedicated attempt at genocide?

Someone must have realized again that what the Press Secretary said was unacceptable, so he sent out a fourth clarification.

He finally wised up and got rid of the word innocent, using “population centers” as a replacement.

But the other objections remain.

And it took him four tries to even get to this! The man is paid to communicate, and it took him four tries to put out a statement that still doesn’t make sense.

So, yes. Hitler never dropped chemical weapons from airplanes on “population centers.” This is true, and it is a difference between Assad and Hitler. Instead, Hitler created new population centers. Let’s call them “Holocaust centers,” if you will. He then moved millions of people to these Holocaust centers where he proceeded to kill millions of them with chemical weapons in a methodical attempt at genocide.

Any liberals or Democrats who are patting themselves on the back for their protests and their resistance for causing Trump and Ryan’s healthcare plan to fail need to shut the fuck up and realize that they had fuck all to do with it.

Trump and Ryan’s healthcare legislation failed because there were around 30 men who were too conservative on the issue—so conservative that many fellow Republicans couldn’t support what they wanted. The bill was impossible to pass. If Trump/Ryan caved to these ultra-conservative jackalopes, they would have lost the votes they needed from the more moderate conservative jackalopes. Read about it here in pretty serious detail. So they tried to strong-arm the ultra conservatives into caving, and those jackalopes told Trump and Ryan to go kick rocks.

This rift in the Republican Party is what killed the bill. This is a purely self-inflicted wound.

You think any of those assholes gave a shit that people knitted hats and showed up by the millions to protest a pussy grabbing piece of human shit? No. They killed the bill because some men are so committed to eliminating government spending that they honestly don’t mind killing tens of thousands of American citizens.

If I wanted to be charitable, I’d say that the protests and the resistance and all that made it impossible for the moderate Republicans to go all-in with the additional cuts. But, that charitable characterization is wrong when you consider the fact that those moderate Republicans were still behind the bill even though it only had a 17% approval rating from Americans. At the same time, 56% of Americans disapproved of it. These fucking moderate animals were prepared to vote for a bill that was 40 points below water! And you want me to believe that the reason they were going to walk if the ultra-conservatives got what they wanted was because it would be too unpopular? Sorry. I’m not buying it. That shit doesn’t make any sense if they were willing to vote for something that was already really unpopular.

So yeah. I was at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. I marched to Trump Tower. I showed up to JFK and waited until the place flooded with more police than demonstrators. My time wasn’t a waste, and if another demonstration like those shapes up, I’ll go again. But I’m not under any illusion that what I did led to the death of this bill. The people who killed this bill do not care about me. They don’t really care about anyone. That’s what killed it.

**2. He and his supporters will say that this is not a Muslim ban because it’s a country-wide ban. But, if you’re not a Muslim in those seven countries, you’re not banned from entering the US. Minority religions are exempted. Only Muslims are absolutely banned.

So how do you ban Muslims without banning them? Ban a Muslim country, and not Muslims, but allow minority religions to be exempt. Clever!

3. This includes people who have legal residency in the US. So, if you live here legally, but you’re visiting family in your country of origin, the country you’re living in has told you you’re not welcome back until it can review your case individually.
4. He chose seven countries to ban, but none of those countries have actually sent terrorists here.
5. The countries that have produced terrorists in America (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Lebanon)? They’re not blocked.
6. Five Muslim countries Trump decided did not need to be blocked from immigration have business ties to Trump (Azerbaijan, Turkey, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia).
7. Some of the people who are now banned from the US were helping our military for years and were told they could come here for safety. Now? Visas are cancelled.
8. If you have dual citizenship in the UK and Iraq? You’re banned from entering the US.

Breaking: State Department says dual citizens with those seven countries ARE banned from the US. https://t.co/P6Iqd5ZChv

I made my first blog post in years today, and I tried to keep it concise. I didn’t succeed like I’d wanted, so I’d like to try again, but this time with an object lesson. (The other one is here.)

Here it goes:

Trump won because white people don’t want to hear what people of color have to say. Like at all. And they voted for the guy who they thought would tell any complaining brown person to shut the fuck up. And they got the right guy.

Trump voters have been expecting silence from minority communities over the last several years. And they haven’t gotten it. Now that they have their man, they’re demanding it. And they’re doing so rather transparently.

This is best exemplified by the reaction of many Trump supporters to what the cast of Hamilton decided to say to Mike Pence. Before we get to just how unhinged and deranged the reaction is, let’s examine the text of the statement:

Vice-president elect Pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us at Hamilton: An American Musical. We really do.

We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir.

But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf all of us. All of us.

We truly thank you for sharing this show—this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men, women of different colors, creeds, and orientations.

It should be noted that just before this statement was read, the person reading it quieted the crowd and stopped them from booing Pence. The person was genuinely reaching out to Pence. Then, after reading it, I can come to no other conclusion other than that this statement is the most respectfulstatement anyone has made this entire campaign.

Thanks for coming, Mr. Pence!

We’re afraid.

We hope our performance made you less likely to hurt us.

Thanks again for coming!

You cannot more respectfully make a point than that. It is torturously respectful. It goes out of its way to show respect.

And Trump supporters are calling it disrespectful and demanding apologies.

(I’m going to ignore for a moment that people who voted for and support Donald Trump think someone should be respectful to someone else. That is, in a phrase, bat-shit fucking insane, and it should make you question your ability to form opinions. About anything. And I mean anything. Like including your favorite color. Or shape. Or even flavor of ice cream. If you vote for Trump and then complain about a lack of respect, seriously, go fuck yourself with a branding iron.)

A person of color cannot stand on a stage and express fear without being shouted at and told to shut up. That’s what’s happening right now.

Trump supporters: YOU’RE PROVING THE MAN’S POINT FOR HIM.

Why on earth would brown people and minorities feel like Trump won’t protect them? Because a brown person cannot say, “I feel afraid,” without being yelled at and told to shut up.* That’s why they feel like Trump won’t protect them. And that’s why overwhelming numbers of white voters elected him: to send a message of “get fucked” to people who are already feeling under attack.

And if you think Trump is going to heal that? No no. He’s not even interested in healing it. If there’s a problem, it’s not the problems articulated by brown people. Those aren’t problems. The problem is that brown people are articulating their feelings. Still. Even after the election. THAT is what needs to stop, in the mind of a Trump supporter.

It’s going to get worse. A lot worse. This is a beginning of something terrible.

Make sure you’re on the right side of it.

(And if you’re not sure what side you’re on, the right side or the wrong side, the right side is ALWAYS the side defending the powerless against the powerful. Always.)

*What’s interesting to me is how the conversations I’ve been having regarding this have gone. First, it’s “disrespectful.” Then, when confronted with how it is clearly actually respectful, they pivot to some other point about not wanting to hear it for some asinine reason.

The reason they don’t want to hear it is simple: they have no respect for the person who is saying it. This isn’t hard, people. It’s only hard to listen if you don’t fucking want to. And that’s the point. They don’t want to hear it. At all.

It’s been a week and a half since Judgment Day, and I have really been on a media diet. No TV, no news articles, no political video watching on Youtube, no facebook—nothing. Usually, I’d be all over that shit. I took over a week off. I needed time to think.

Yesterday and today were sort of my first forays back into the morass that is American politics, and I’ve found it much the way I left it: a disaster.

Without getting into any tangents, let me be clear:

The reason Donald Trump is our next president is because white people in this country could no longer tolerate black people, religious minorities, and women standing up for themselves.

In Black Lives Matter, in the Trayvon Martin shooting, in the Planned Parenthood smear, in the dozens of rape cases where women are denied their humanity, and in the Khan family, white America was shown that black people, women, and Muslims are not afraid to stand and declare themselves equal to the white, male majority. Especially with black voices, social media allowed them to amplify themselves and become a force in the American political realm. Black people, loudly and effectively, aired their grievances for everyone to hear, and no one could escape their voice.

Donald Trump was the response.

Donald Trump is white, male America telling the rest of America to sit down, shut up, and stop complaining about any injustice they feel like they’ve endured. Donald Trump is white, male America fed-up with the idea of “white privilege.” Donald Trump is white, male America telling black people not to be so lazy. Donald Trump is white, male America pointing to violence in black communities as evidence that blacks are inferior to whites. Donald Trump is white, male America telling American Muslims to go fuck themselves because this is a Christian nation. Donald Trump is a middle finger to every single woman who was ever assaulted and demanded justice in return.

Donald Trump did not win because of his policies. He doesn’t have any. He didn’t win because of his big ideas. He never actually explained how any of them would actually work.

He won because he represents white America’s dying grasp on political power. He is the echoing, phlegm-soaked cough coming right before the death white America’s political autonomy. And it just gave the biggest “fuck you” to women and minorities in this country since the fight for Civil Rights.

Trumpism is a “correction” on the progress of minorities, especially blacks. Trumpism is the id of white America finally putting black people in their place.

Trumpism is white hate melded with societal power. It is a living force. Our only solace can be that it will one day die.

And until then, there will be no reconciliation. There will be no come together moments. We cannot accept the bigotry that Trump proudly represents. On every issue concerning the rights of minorities and women, it must be opposed. On every single one.